Int’l dragon boat team in Suzhou embraces Chinese tradition, builds cross-cultural bonds

At the annual Jinji Lake Dragon Boat Race held Saturday in Suzhou City, east China's Jiangsu Province, an international team embraced the traditional sport through year-round training, fostering cross-cultural friendship and unity along the way.

With a history of more than 2,000 years, the Dragon Boat Festival is a national holiday celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar every year, honoring Qu Yuan (about 340-278 BC), a famous poet from the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) who is known for his patriotism and contributions to classical verses.

Dragon boat racing is a tradition among the time-honored celebrations for the annual festival.

Founded ten years ago, the Vipers is a dragon boat team composed of foreigners working in Suzhou. To achieve good results, team members train for about ten months each year. As the paddlers come from different countries, a lack of coordination was inevitable at the beginning, but they gradually built mutual understanding through teamwork.

"[In] 2015, our boat was in the race and then we flipped over and we all ended up in the water so [it was] not a good experience, but it's something that's memorable," said Scott, leader of the Vipers.

To boost team spirit, the dragon boat team marked each member's paddle with their name and national flag, accompanied by a message in Chinese that reads: "We are together."

"We all push each other to our limits and really cheer each other on. This is a really physically demanding sport. And these people really taught me how to be disciplined and also enjoy something where you really push yourself," said Martin Losada, a member from Italy.

No matter how busy their schedules are, the team trains for at least one hour, two to three times a week.

"Our team, we have got about 20 people on the team, all different countries from Scotland, myself, England, South Africa, France, China, Canada. Why I like it now is because it's fantastic for a team. It's the best team sport that I've played ever. So the team, team togetherness and team spirit is the thing that I like most about dragon boat," said Scott.

"The Vipers, it is kind of family. We are very tied to each other and like if someone's got a problem, everybody helps him. It's much more like a family than normal friendship, I would say," said Clement Pepin, a member from France.

This year, the Dragon Boat Festival was celebrated on May 31, and the holiday runs from May 31 to June 2.

Int’l dragon boat team in Suzhou embraces Chinese tradition, builds cross-cultural bonds

Int’l dragon boat team in Suzhou embraces Chinese tradition, builds cross-cultural bonds

The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.

The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.

Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.

"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.

Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.

Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.

"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.

Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight